North Korea launches 23 missiles, prompting South Korean President to cry ‘territorial encroachment’

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• North Korea fired at least 23 missiles on Wednesday, with at least one landing near South Korea’s coast.
• One of the missiles landed south of a disputed inter-Korean maritime border, prompting South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to call out Pyongyang’s “territorial encroachment.”
• In response, South Korean warplanes fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea.

At least 23 North Korean missiles were launched into the sea on Wednesday. One of the missiles landed less than 60 km (40 miles) off South Korea’s coast, prompting South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to call out Pyongyang’s “territorial encroachment.”

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), three short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North Korean coastal area of Wonsan into the sea. At least 14 other missiles of different types were also fired from the North’s east and west coasts.

At least one missile landed outside South Korea’s territorial waters, but merely 26 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed inter-Korean maritime border. This was about 57 kilometres (35 miles) from the South Korean city of Sokcho on the east coast, and 167 kilometers from the island of Ulleung, where rare air raid warnings were issued.

The North also fired over 11 artillery rounds from its coast into a military buffer zone established in a military agreement with the South. The JCS called it a violation of the 2018 agreement.

Some air routes over the sea between North Korea and Japan had to be closed until Thursday morning due to the launches.

Wednesday’s launches were reportedly made in protest against the large-scale military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea.

Yoon’s office declared, “North Korea’s provocation today was an effective act of territorial encroachment by a missile intruding the NLL for the first time since (the two Koreas’) division.” He also vowed a “swift and firm response” to show North Korea “the price for provocation.”

In response, South Korea issued air raid warnings. Warplanes fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea north across the NLL.

JCS stated, “Our military can never tolerate this kind of North Korea’s provocative act, and will strictly and firmly respond under close South Korea-U.S. cooperation.”

South Korea is still reeling from the deaths of over 150 people in a weekend crowd surge in Seoul. Still, the U.S. and South Korea decided to push through with the joint military exercises, called Vigilant Storm.

The exercises, which were the largest combined military air drills, involve hundreds of warplanes from both sides staging mock attacks 24 hours a day. Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, called the drills an “aggressive and provocative” exercise specifically targeting North Korea.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the exercises were “purely defensive in nature,” and that the U.S. had already clarified such to North Korea. Still, he reiterated that there would be “profound costs and profound consequences” if North Korea resumed nuclear testing.

Source: Reuters